Original Title: “Middle East Crypto Chronicles”

Original Author: Hazel, Zhi Wu Bu Yan

In the early hours of June 18, 2025, while tens of millions of Chinese stayed up late to snatch discounted goods, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, was also “liquidated.”

A hacker group named Gonjeshke Darande, Persian for “Plundering Sparrow,” posted on X claiming to have breached Nobitex’s hot wallet and siphoned over $90 million. Just the day before, this same group had attacked one of Iran’s largest state-owned banks, Bank Sepah.

Then, they did something rarely seen in hacking history.

They transferred this entire $90 million to 8 “black hole addresses” for destruction. These wallets, without private keys, render the funds permanently…